The 30 Highest-Grossing Actors in Hollywood

Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., and Samuel L. Jackson in The Avengers (2012).

Marvel Studios

Earlier this summer, Avengers: Endgame surpassed James Cameron's Avatar to become the highest-grossing movie of all-time worldwide. Which begs the question: Who are the highest-grossing actors? Of the A-listers with the highest box office grosses in America, 18 of them have been—and/or continue to be—part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But plenty of non-superhero stalwarts also made the cut.

TheStar Wars and The Lord of the Rings franchises are also well-represented on this list, comprising a total of six spots ... with a little bit of crossover (Andy Serkis is in both franchises). But Tom Cruise, Johnny Depp, and Woody Harrelson have all managed to do well outside comic book franchises. Unfortunately, the list is extremely male-dominated, with only three women landing in the top 30, but it's always changing. As of this moment, here are Hollywood's top-grossing actors.

1. Samuel L. Jackson

Getting in on the ground floor of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has paid off for Samuel L. Jackson, but that’s not the only major franchise that’s contributed to his top spot on this list: Star Wars, The Incredibles, and Jurassic Park helped secure his position, too. Not only is he the most bankable movie star ($13.3 billion worldwide), he’s also “the most influential actor of all time,” according to an algorithm-based study published in the journal Applied Network Science. Plus, Jackson has starred in more movies than anyone on the list—120 and counting.

2. Robert Downey Jr.

Box office total: $5,818,750,378

Biggest movie: The Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Downey Jr. has had one of the biggest comebacks in Hollywood history, going from indie actor to playing Iron Man in several Marvel films. He's also one of the highest paid actors on this list; Downey raked in $75 million for Avengers: Endgame alone.

3. Scarlett Johansson

Marvel Studios

Box office total: $5,244,119,075

Biggest movie:Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Four-time Golden Globe nominee Scarlett Johansson is one of only two women to make it into one of the top 10 spots of this list. Like Jackson and Downey, her involvement in the MCU has helped her films gross billions of dollars worldwide. Next year she’ll headline a Black Widow film.

4. Harrison Ford

Box office total: $5,121,747,600

Biggest movie:Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

Whereas the MCU folks are new to billion-dollar franchises, Harrison Ford has been acting in record-breaking films for decades, and in a variety of franchises: Blade Runner, Star Wars, and Indiana Jones. However, The Force Awakens was the first time he starred in a film that grossed more than $1 billion worldwide.

5. Tom Hanks

Box office total: $5,038,685,542

Biggest movie:Toy Story 4 (2019)

Tom Hanks hasn’t starred in Star Wars or a superhero movie (unless you count Mr. Rogers as a superhero), yet he’s made Disney a lot of money by lending his voice to four Toy Story films, including this year’s Toy Story 4, which grossed $1 billion worldwide.

6. Bradley Cooper

Box office total: $4,803,758,514

Biggest movie:Avengers: Endgame (2019)

It seems unlikely for Cooper to appear in the top 10, but voicing The Guardians of the Galaxy's Rocket Raccoon for the MCU; directing/acting/producing/composing A Star Is Born; and starring in the $300 million-grossing American Sniper increased the seven-time Oscar nominee's bankability.

7. Morgan Freeman

Box office total: $4,624,290,253

Biggest movie:The Dark Knight (2008)

The Dark Knight grossed a whooping $535 million domestically, making it the most profitable of the Christian Bale Batman series. Plus, Freeman has voiced God, which in itself is worthy.

8. Don Cheadle

Leon Bennett/Getty Images

Box office total: $4,422,654,260

Biggest movie:Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Don Cheadle mostly benefits from being a part of the MCU, but he also starred in the lucrative Ocean’s franchise.

9. Andy Serkis

Box office total: $4,357,712,246

Biggest movie:Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

Andy Serkis has been in some of the most successful movies of all time, including Black Panther, The Force Awakens, the rebooted Planet of the Apes films, and The Lord of Rings trilogy. Sometimes he appears in corporeal form, other times it’s only his voice and/or body movements that make it on to the screen. With appearances in four major franchises—and a hilarious role in 13 Going on 30—Serkis almost has Jackson beat.

10. Zoe Saldana

Box office total: $4,193,566,592

Biggest movie: Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Zoe Saldana benefits from being part of the Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Star Trek franchises, as well as Avatar, which used to be the highest-grossing film until Endgame unseated it.

11. Chris Pratt

Box office total: $4,145,406,026

Biggest movie:Avengers: Endgame (2019)

In 2014, Andy Dwyer/Star Lord broke out in a big way. Since starring in Guardians of the Galaxy, Chris Pratt has made his bread and butter through the MCU, two Jurassic Worlds, and lending his voice to two LEGO movies.

12. Anthony Daniels

Box office total: $4,040,875,544

Biggest movie:Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

Anthony Daniels owes his entire film career to playing C-3PO in every Star Wars movie, including 2017’s The Last Jedi and the upcoming The Rise of Skywalker. Daniels has voiced C-3PO in The LEGO Movie and Ralph Breaks the Internet, too.

13. Chris Evans

Box office total: $4,019,809,829

Biggest movie: Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Chris Evans, the second Chris on this list, is most famous for his role as Captain America—though playing the Human Torch in two Fantastic Four movies helped him secure a top spot on this list.

14. Chris Hemsworth

Disney/Marvel Studios

Box office total: $4,018,762,362

Biggest movie: Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Like Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth’s lucrative career has been been largely situated in the MCU.

15. Tom Cruise

Box office total: $3,997,627,920

Biggest movie: War of the Worlds (2005)

Tom Cruise has been a Hollywood A-lister since before some of the younger members of the MCU were even born. His movies range from the Mission: Impossible franchise to standalone hits like Minority Report, Jerry Maguire, The Firm, Rain Man, Top Gun, and War of the Worlds. It grossed $234,280,354—only $14 million more than 2018’s Mission: Impossible - Fallout. Next year, Cruise will try to move up the list with a Top Gun sequel.

16. Idris Elba

Box office total: $3,848,550,304

Biggest movie: Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

In addition to Idris Elba’s role in the MCU, he has increased his box office tally with hits like Hobbs and Shaw, and Star Trek Beyond as well as voice work in The Jungle Book, Finding Dory, and Zootopia.

17. Johnny Depp

Box office total: $3,846,802,966

Biggest movie:Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006)

Johnny Depp starred in all five Pirates of the Caribbean movies—including the $1 billion-worldwide grosser Dead Man’s Chest. Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland and 2018’s Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald have kept his star status afloat.

18. Eddie Murphy

Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Netflix

Box office total: $3,811,107,808

Biggest movie:Shrek 2 (2004)

Though Eddie Murphy hasn’t had a blockbuster his since voicing Donkey in 2010’s Shrek Forever After, he maintains a big box office draw from older fare like Beverly Hills Cop (1984); the Dr. Doolittle and The Nutty Professor movies; Dreamgirls (2006); and three more Shrek films. Next year’s Coming to America sequel should boost his box office totals, too.

19. Stanley Tucci

Box office total: $3,778,184,471

Biggest movie: Beauty and the Beast (2017)

Yes, Stanley Tucci had a tiny part in the MCU—he portrayed Abraham Erskine in Captain America: The First Avenger—but his most impressive box office grosses come from starring in a couple of Transformers movies, the live-action Beauty and the Beast, and The Hunger Games series, which has grossed more than $2 billion worldwide.

20. Mark Ruffalo

Box office total: $3,764,716,234

Biggest movie:Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Mark Ruffalo has earned three (and counting) Oscar nominations for smaller roles in The Kids Are All Right (2010), Foxcatcher (2014), and Spotlight (2015). But playing the Hulk has helped him smash the box office.

21. Ian McKellen

Box office total: $3,654,414,482

Biggest movie:Beauty and the Beast (2017)

Ian McKellen has been a franchise staple for nearly 20 years, beginning with 2000’s X-Men. A combination of X-Men films and The Lord of the Rings trilogy has made him one of Hollywood’s most successful actors. If that weren’t enough, two The Hobbit films, The Da Vinci Code, and 2017's Beauty and the Beast propelled him to big box office totals.

22. Benedict Cumberbatch

Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney

Box office total: $3,585,440,897

Biggest movie: Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Star Trek Into Darkness, The Hobbit, voicing the titular character in 2018’s The Grinch, and playing Doctor Strange in the MCU have enabled Benedict Cumberbatch to make a dent in the worldwide box office.

23. Dwayne Johnson

Box office total: $3,564,845,910

Biggest movie: Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)

The Rock’s roles in the Fast and the Furious series—including 2019’s spinoff, Hobbs and Shaw—broke some box office records, but his parts in Jumanji (it almost grossed $1 billion worldwide) and voicing Maui in Moana have also contributed a lot of money to his worldwide box office total. In December, he’ll star in a Jumanji sequel—Jumanji: The Next Level.

24. Will Smith

Box office total: $3,559,520,435

Biggest movie:Aladdin (2019)

With early successes like Independence Day, the Bad Boys franchise (another is on the way), and three Men in Black movies, Will Smith became one of the biggest stars in the world. Though he’s been a movie star for more than 25 years, this year’s live-action Aladdin is his biggest hit to date.

25. Jeremy Renner

Box office total: $3,547,806,066

Biggest movie: Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Jeremy Renner has the MCU, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, and American Hustle to thank for his place on this list. The Hurt Locker, which is one of his most acclaimed movies, is also one of his lowest-grossing films.

26. Josh Brolin

Box office total: $3,528,495,148

Biggest movie: Avengers: Endgame (2019)

In the past couple of years, veteran actor Josh Brolin has experienced a late-career resurgence. Not only did he play Thanos in three Avengers films, but he also appeared in Deadpool 2. In 2018 alone, Deadpool 2 and Avengers: Infinity War grossed almost $3 billion total worldwide. Not a bad year.

27. Cate Blanchett

Lars Niki/Getty Images for Austin Film Society

Box office total: $3,497,073,561

Biggest movie:The Lord of the Rings:TheReturn of the King (2003)

In the early aughts, Oscar winner Cate Blanchett proved that she could be a valuable franchise asset with her role in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. In 2017, she entered the MCU with Thor: Raganok. She made smart money choices with The Hobbit movies, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Cinderella, and Ocean’s 8.

28. Vin Diesel

Box office total: $3,493,342,043

Biggest movie: Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Vin Diesel voiced Guardians of the Galaxy's Groot in the MCU, though the animated character barely had any dialogue except to say “I am Groot.” But his starring role in seven Fast and the Furious movies is what made his stardom balloon. More Fast and the Furious films are planned, and Diesel has a part in the upcoming Avatar sequels, too.

29. Woody Harrelson

Box office total: $3,479,339,743

Biggest movie: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)

In 2012, Woody Harrelson starred in the first of four Hunger Games films. Their high grosses, especially 2013’s Catching Fire, solidified his place as a fantastic character actor who could also carry a major franchise. In 2018, he continued his blockbuster streak and starred in Star Wars spinoff Solo: A Star Wars Story, and Venom.

30. Anthony Mackie

Box office total: $3,451,128,814

Biggest movie: Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Anthony Mackie has the MCU to thank for his place on the 30th spot on this list.

7 of the Best Double Features You Can Stream on Netflix Right Now

For many of us, movie night can turn into a movie marathon. If you’re logged into Netflix and pondering what to watch, check out these double feature suggestions that each offer a perfect pairing of tone, topic, or an ideal double dose of Nicolas Cage.

In Bonnie and Clyde, Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway star as the famous outlaw couple who livened up Depression-era America with their string of bank robberies. More than 50 years later, The Highwaymen shifts the focus to the retired Texas Rangers (Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson) charged with bringing them down.

Sylvester Stallone's rousing story of underdog palooka Rocky Balboa pairs well with the biopic of the man who partially inspired Stallone's screenplay. Chuck details the boxing career of Chuck Wepner, a determined pugilist who was given virtually no chance against Muhammad Ali but wound up winning the respect of the crowd. Liev Schreiber stars.

Water-based getaways become cautionary tales: In Deliverance, Burt Reynolds delivers the performance that turned him into a movie star, a rough and rugged outdoorsman confronted by a group of sinister locals in the backwoods of Georgia. Things don’t get appreciably better in The River Wild, with Meryl Streep as a matriarch forced to navigate the rapids under the gun of criminal Kevin Bacon. Together, the two may have you rethinking your vacation plans.

Newspaper reporting comes under fire in both of these films based on true stories. All the President's Men features Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman as Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, The Washington Post reporters tasked with uncovering the Watergate conspiracy. Kill the Messenger stars Jeremy Renner as Gary Webb, the journalist who found a suspicious connection between drug smuggling and the CIA.

After a bad stretch of mediocre adaptations, Stephen King’s work has been seeing an onscreen renaissance. Check out two of the best: Carrie, which stars Sissy Spacek as a telekinetic teen with an overbearing mother and an awkward social life; and Gerald’s Game, which casts Carla Gugino as a woman trapped in handcuffs amid supernatural activity.

Fitting in the very narrow genre of “Nicolas Cage heist movies,” both National Treasure and The Trust are terrific on their own: A double feature contrasts Cage at his blockbuster best with his indie film shades of grey. As Benjamin Franklin Gates in National Treasure, he tries to run off with the Declaration of Independence. In The Trust, he and Elijah Wood are cops targeting a drug money stash. Fans of a more subdued—but still excellent—Cage should find a lot to like here.

Two very different tales of World War II oscillate from the cerebral to the Nazi-smashing. In Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino offers a revisionist take on the men and women who resisted the Reich. In The Imitation Game, Benedict Cumberbatch is real-life scientist Alan Turing, whose work with computers cracked a German code that helped end the war.

How Mister Rogers Used King Friday to Make Friday the 13th Less Scary for Kids

King Friday XIII, son of King Charming Thursday XII and Queen Cinderella Monday, is an avid arts lover, a talented whistler, and a former pole vaulter. He reigns over Calendarland with lots of pomp and poise, and he’s usually correct.

Fans of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood may also remember that the monarch was born on Friday the 13th, because his birthday was celebrated on the program every Friday the 13th. Though the math isn’t perfect—according to Timeanddate.com, Friday the 13th sometimes happens two or three times a year—the heartwarming reason behind the unconventionally-timed birthday celebrations absolutely is.

Fred Rogers explained that he wanted to give children a reason to look forward to Friday the 13th, instead of buying into the negative superstitions that surround the dreaded date. “We thought, ‘Let’s start children out thinking that Friday the 13th was a fun day,’” he said in a 1999 interview. “So we would celebrate his birthday every time a Friday the 13th came.”

Rogers added that the tradition worked out so well partially because the show was broadcast live, and viewers knew to anticipate an especially festive episode whenever they spotted a Friday the 13th on the calendar.

Speaking of calendars: There’s an equally charming story behind the name Calendarland. In the same interview, Rogers disclosed that King Friday once asked children to write in with suggestions for his then-nameless country. One boy posited that since King Friday was named after a calendar date, his realm should be named after the calendar. Then, the lucky youngster was invited to the set, where King Friday christened him a prince of Calendarland.

King Friday might be king of Calendarland, but Mister Rogers is definitely the king of understanding how to make kids feel safe, smart, and special.